


The Tiger Sleeps Tonight

by Armatron



Category: Original Work
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Human/Monster Romance, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Monster Boyfriend, Nighttime, Other, Teratophilia, Tigers, beastman - Freeform, guardian tiger
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:47:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22485064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Armatron/pseuds/Armatron
Summary: Your guardian tiger boyfriend comes to you with a concern one night and you comfort him.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26





	The Tiger Sleeps Tonight

Night had fallen hours ago but its spell had yet to be cast over everyone in the house. That wasn’t to say that its spell was entirely ineffective as it pulled you gently into its embrace fairly early compared to your usual sleep schedule.

Deep under your covers you were barely aware of the world around you but in the darkness, someone stirred. He approached your bed quietly but not threateningly heavy body making careful steps to minimize the noise he might make.  
The soft padding woke you just before a heavy weight shifted the mattress of your bed as Mián bèi sat down on the bed beside your prone form. He didn’t lay down like you expected and you opened your eyes to look at the tiger man just to close them again as he laid a hand on your head.

You could feel his claws brush through your hair and you relaxed into the touch with a sigh before sitting up and stretching the sleep from your body. Night time physical affection usually meant something was on his mind. Mián bèi was looking at your softly, his usual passive stoicism giving way to gentle contemplation.  
A familiar glimmer of worry set around his eyes in the moonlight and returning the gesture of comfort you pulled him closer to you for a hug. His warm fur muting the muscle definition of the body beneath and fought off the slight chill of the night now that your covers had been, mostly, discarded.

He had decided to forgo clothes beyond a simple set of pants and the moonlight filtering through the window gave his orange and black striped fur a silver-blue hue that was doubly reflected in his eyes as he stared down at you.

Normally you would be ecstatic for him to join your bed with this amount of skin...fur showing but the way he moved to be as close to you as possible and as quiet as he was being made a you shiver in a way that had nothing to do with the cold.

“What's wrong bèi?” you asked quietly burying yourself into his warmth and wrapping your arms around his chest as tightly as you could. He settled an arm around your shoulders and squeezed you with it briefly before letting it relax over you.

“Are you happy, àirén?” he asked softly, his voice deep but tender in its depths and soft as if scared to be overheard or break the spell of the night around the two of you. You pulled away enough to look up at him in concern before answering.

“Of course I am? What makes you think that I’m not?” you asked with equal softness. You felt him shrug and he looked away from you and his ears bent down on his head before he looked back at you from the corner of his eye.

“Because we can’t really be together.” he said softly, “I’m a spirit, àirén. I can’t go out to the movies with you or on dates. I can’t be there for you the way a human lover could. You...you deserve someone who can be there beyond the reach of a statue.” he looked down and away in shame and a sharp pain quickly shot through your chest.

You had met Mián bèi shortly after a trip through Asia. A quick stop at a shop for a last minute souvenir on the way to the airport home had nicked you with what you thought was a faithful recreation of a tiger guardian statue like the ones you had seen in many of the temples of Taiwan.

Shortly after however Mián bèi had appeared and after a short period of panic had been able to explain who and what he was. A guardian spirit whose all to genuine statue had been misplaced, forgotten, lost, and finally sold to you.

As a spirit Mián bèi could do many wonderful and strange things but he was linked to his statue set up on a makeshift altar on your mantle and was generally incapable of physically manipulating the world or even being seen by anyone he wasn’t tied to spiritually save for when he was close to you as well as the statue and could borrow some of your ‘realness’ to create a physical form.

This had been a common complaint of his as your relationship had shifted from guardian and charge to lovers and though he could follow you outside he couldn’t take physical form and was forced to the sidelines whenever you were going about your day. You sighed and hugged a little tighter letting him and yourself enjoy each others company for a few moments before answering.

“Do you remember the first time we made love?” You asked gently. The tiger man bristled and some of his melancholy was lost in embarrassment as a red hue shifted over his cheeks through his fur and he began to avoid your gaze for an entirely different reason than before.

“I-I don’t see what that has to do with this.” he said still avoiding your gaze. You smirked and sat up before straddling his lap forcing him to pay attention to you as his hands grabbed your waist to help steady you.

“It has everything to do with this.” You said moving your hands behind his shoulders as you looked up at him. “Did you feel it?” you asked. “I know I did. Do you feel me now?” You moved a hand to his chest where beneath the fur and muscle you could feel a heart beating away despite his spiritual nature. He nodded and looked down at your hand where it touched him.

“Your real to me bèi. In every way that matters.” You said looking up at him and smiled kissing the side of his muzzle. He blushed again but this time didn't look away from you. His eyes watched your every move with fascination. “I don't want or need someone sitting beside me at a movie or from across a table at a restaurant. I want you. I want you talking to me when life gets hard and making rude comments about people when I can’t say them myself.” he chuckled and blushed.

“That-that was one time.” he muttered under his breath as he nuzzled your neck but his protest was blunted by the cheeky smile he hid with the maneuver.

“One, very, memorable time.” you replied kissing his cheek, “You are everything I need. You keep me safe and you make me feel like I matter and that is everything I could want from any lover, human or otherwise.” he sighed and pulled you tightly into a hug and unlike your sideways hug from earlier he completely encompassed you in his warmth. You were tempted to sit with him like that for the rest of eternity but after a few moments you pulled away to talk again.

“I tell you what.” you said as he looked down at you, most of his dour mood forgotten, “I have a day off coming up and we should have picnic.” He raised an eyebrow at you and a paw came up to check your head for fever.

“I am a spirit, àirén. Although I enjoy our walks I cannot eat food or have you forgotten.” You pulled his questing hand away to meet his gaze once more.

“You can if I bring your statue with us.” He tensed and stared down at you and you continued to explain yourself before he could raise his obvious concerns.

“There are plenty of places around the city we could go where no one would bother us if you decided you wanted to be physical for a couple hours and even if someone does come across us you can just pop back into spirit mode and then what? Are they going to go to the cops about a disappearing beast man? I’ll even try to make something from Taiwan if you can find a recipe.”

He look of shock waned as you spoke and was replaced by a soft smile. A hand came up to cup your face and he pulled you into a soft kiss.

“That sounds wonderful àirén.” He said, “I’m sorry to bother you with my trivial worries.” You kissed him again.

“You never have to be sorry about coming to me for help.” you said as you pushed against him gently. Getting the idea he carefully held you and fell back onto the bed, maneuvering so that you lay on top of him. “We lean on each other bèi. You may be a guardian tiger but that doesn't mean you have to shoulder everything alone or sacrifice your happiness for mine. I’m only happy when we both are happy.”

He nods above you and turns carefully and you position yourself so your back is facing your chest. He gracefully extracts the blankets from underneath the two of you and gently pulls them over you both although, by necessity, he takes the tigers share of them.

“Goodnight àirén.” he says gently behind you and you feel his breath whisper the words into your hair. The night begins to pull at you again and you relax into the warmth of your loving guardian tiger.

“Goodnight Mián bèi.”

**Author's Note:**

> Maybe, maybe not, totally, absolutely inspired by Nekojishi. BTW its free on steam and even if you aren't homosexual or a furry or whatever its so cute and amazing and you will fall for all three of them no matter what so just go play it and see what I mean its so good. (also it isn't, like, a smut game unless you go out of your way to download that content so no worries there if that was a concern)
> 
> àirén = sweetheart (simplified Chinese according to google translate)
> 
> Mián bèi = Comforter (simplified Chinese google translate) ironically.
> 
> I'm sorry for the reliance on google for my Chinese (mandarin?) speaking needs I know its not reliable I just hope it doesn't make speakers of the language cringe too much.


End file.
